Puppy Dog Tails (Now With Sugar and Spice!)

Sarah Kate--28 months

2011-09-18T21:53:00.000-05:00

Now that she's two, she doesn't get monthly posts anymore. But I suppose it's time I give an update on our quickly growing Sarah Kate. Oh yeah, she's two. She has mastered the tantrums, the bossiness, the whining, and the strong opinions on clothing, shoes and accessories. She refuses to wear jeans and rejected shoes at Target recently because they weren't "princess shoes." She loves to wear tights, bracelets, and bows. She even let me paint her toenails a few weeks ago and sat still until they dried. But she has two older brothers, so she can also be spotted wearing backwards baseball caps, Iron Man masks, and wielding swords and light sabers.

She's getting really good at counting and knowing some of her letters. She is learning some of their sounds, but she usually says every letter says "buh." She will mimic her brother learning to read, pretending to sound out words by looking at the pictures and saying "buh-buh-lion! buh-buh-monkey!" She also loves to sing "Jesus Loves Me," and her little singing voice is so sweet. She says "yes" most of the time instead of "yeah." She says it with the slightest lisp that makes it so adorable. And she is currently obsessed with her colored counting bears. She will sit and play with them in her high chair for hours!

In August, I came home from the store one day with a pretty pink princess potty. I bribed her with candy, and Sarah Kate peed in the potty that very evening. She was so proud of herself! The next morning, Daddy took off her diaper and sent her in the bathroom. She said down sleepily on the potty like she'd been doing it for years and went pee! But this time, she stood up before she was done and didn't like the mess that resulted. That was the end of that! Even princesses and candy can't get her to sit on the potty now.

The other day, I heard water running in the bathroom and went to investigate. Sarah Kate had taken the princess potty apart and had it in the sink, with water everywhere. I said, "What are you doing?" and she answered truthfully, "Making a mess!" She later told Daddy she was cleaning the potty. It was very diligent of her, since she hasn't been using it!

A few weeks ago, I realized that Sarah Kate's hair is just long enough for me to french braid part of it. It is so much fun having a girl! She doesn't usually hold still long enough for a braid, but she is wearing part of it in a ponytail with a bow. She calls the rubber bands "silly bands" (remember those big brothers?). One day I tried to tell her it was a hair band, but she corrected me: "No! My silly band!" Did I mention she's opinionated?

Below is a video of Sarah Kate singing her catechism song--"Where is God? everywhere," and "Jesus Loves Me."

Will's Super Letters

2011-09-18T20:41:00.002-05:00

Will is doing so well at kindergarten! He loves to learn new things and be with his friends. He is so much more talkative, so I get more detailed reports than I can usually get from Christopher. He doesn't usually tell me a lot right after school, but over the course of a few days, he starts telling stories. Apparently, the first week of school Will took too long doing his business in the bathroom when his class had a potty break at the bathroom down the hall. He got left in the bathroom and had to find his way back. He ended up at the kindergarten classroom that it is adjacent to his through a small bathroom, and he found his way back. He seemed to think it was pretty exciting!

In the few weeks before school started, Will taught himself a bunch of math facts. He learned the doubles (1+1, 2+2, 3+3, etc.) and then figured out that if he knew that 4+4=8, then he knew 4+5=9. We were impressed! He also loves learning about animals. He is obsessed! He also likes to come up with imaginary animals and then quiz us: "Mom, tell me five ways that burpy slurpy carankulas interact with their habitat." Not an easy pop quiz!

Will also loves superheroes. So it shouldn't be a big shock that he's invented "super letters." It started with the L's in his name, but it has expanded to other letters as well. After this paper, I convinced him to save super letters for his artwork and not do them on his homework. :)

Whoooooooo Pig Sooieee!

2011-09-09T21:52:00.001-05:00

September 3 was the start of the Razorback football season! Thanks to the sweet generosity of friends, I was able to take the boys to their first football game. Our seats were amazing, and the weather was a little hot, but we had a great time. As we were walking from the car to the stadium, I told the boys that this was their chance to show me they were good walkers, and if they did, maybe we could take them to Disney World sometime. Will said, "I think we need to bring ice water to Disney World!" It sure was hot--ice water would have been a good idea!

The boys loved being in the stadium, especially the snacks. Will kicked over two cups of frozen strawberry lemonade (partially melted and therefore spillable), so we were kind of a sticky mess. But the boys did great at calling the Hogs, chanting "first down!" and cheering on the Razorbacks. When the stadium filled up before the start of the game, Will looked around and said, "There must be a hundred people here!" Will asked a million questions and learned a lot about football! I got in trouble with Will when I commented on a "stupid move" by the Hogs--we're not supposed to say stupid!

One of the highlights was watching the marching band perform at halftime. They were so impressed that they could walk and play music at the same time! We left after that, since it was an evening game and the Hogs were winning by thirty points. We stopped for frozen yogurt on the way back to the car. I'm so thankful for the special memories with my boys and my Hogs!

First Day of School 2011

2011-09-09T21:44:00.003-05:00

On August 23, Christopher started 2nd grade, and Will started kindergarten! Will has been so excited to go to school with Christopher. He was a little nervous the week before school started, until we realized he thought he was going to have to do timed math in kindergarten. Once we cleared up that misunderstanding, he didn't seem hesitant at all about the first day of school. He waited patiently in the hallway with his best buddy Iain, and by the time I got back downstairs after taking pictures of Christopher, Will was already seated at the table, coloring his picture, and informing his teacher that he had already written his name on the "Name" line at the top. He's off to a great start with school!

Christopher is loving 2nd grade so far, too. Science is new in their curriculum, and it is his favorite! He's also excited to learn about the Ancient Egyptians and make a mummy this year. We are so thankful for the boys' classical, Christian, university-model school. I was volunteering at the school the week after school started, and I walked into Will's classroom just in time to see his teacher pray with the class to start their day and then lead them in singing "Holy, Holy, Holy." I love our school and our kids' amazing teachers!

It's also sweet to see the boys sharing the school experience for the first time. They have one of their electives together, and they enjoy working together on their at-home days. In fact, one day I returned from the laundry room to find that Christopher had drawn a little Spiderman for Will on Will's writing assignment. I had to tell Christopher that he can't do Will's work for him, although I think he was just trying to be helpful! On the first day of school, we were in the van in the parking lot, and Sarah Kate started saying, "I go to school, too!" I told her you have to be five to go to this school. Later, after we had dropped the boys off and were driving home, I heard Sarah Kate in the back seat saying, "I five! I five!" Poor thing--she misses her brothers when they're at school!

Will and his best buddy, Iain--note the matching shoes!

2nd grade boys are so silly!

Already hard at work!

Will and his teacher

Our first at-home school day

Orange Belt

2011-09-09T21:33:00.001-05:00

Right before school started in August, Christopher earned his orange belt in tae kwon do. He's worked very hard on learning his skills and mastering his form. Congratulations, Christopher!

Our New Aunt Eva!

2011-09-09T21:31:00.003-05:00

In August, we traveled to the Ann Arbor, Michigan area for Uncle Jamie and Aunt Eva's wedding. The kids were super excited to fly on an airplane--the boys were two and four years old the last time they flew. They loved being at the airport, and they all did so well on the plane. I was so proud of the boys pulling their backpacks through the airport. Flying with big kids is so much easier than flying with toddlers!

The boys loved seeing the cars, trees and buildings from the air. Our flight had a stop in St. Louis, and before we landed, Christopher had asked me how the pilot knows where to go. When we landed and the flight attendant announced our arrival in St. Louis, Christopher said, "Oh no! We're not in the right place!" I guess I had neglected to tell them about our stop along the way!

In Michigan, we got to hang out with Aunt Amanda, Asher, Great-Aunt Marilyn, Great-Uncle Mike, Mommy's Cousin Katie and other relatives. The kids had a blast playing with Asher, swimming at the hotel, and playing at a park with Katie.

Of course, the reason we were there was the big wedding event! Christopher was asked to say a prayer before dinner at the reception, and he did a wonderful job. He was so brave and didn't even need anyone to go with him as he took the microphone and prayed in front of the large group. We entertained Sarah Kate with bubbles and candy while her brothers tore up the dance floor. Christopher worked up quite a sweat dancing with all Uncle Jamie and Aunt Eva's friends! Christopher and Will even got to dance with the bride!

Congratulations, Aunt Eva and Uncle Jamie! We love you!

The slidey bench at the airport

Making decorations for the getaway car

Wedding receptions can get long when you're a toddler . . .

Crazy dancing machines!

Be warned: if you take a silly picture with my kids, I WILL put it on my blog!

Camp Invention 2011

2011-09-09T21:18:00.001-05:00

In July, Christopher attended a science day camp called "Camp Invention." It was run by our friend Jenny, and Christopher had a fabulous time! He was so excited to learn how to make rubber balls, take apart an old DVD player, build an invention, and crack secret codes. They had dress-up days during the week, and thanks to Grandma's help, Christopher won a prize on "mad scientist" day!

4th of July!

2011-07-14T15:11:00.000-05:00

We had a great 4th of July weekend this year. The boys helped me make the flag fruit pizza I make every year. They wanted to put the blueberries and strawberries on, and the control freak in me wasn't so sure . . . but I let them anyway. They did a great job and had a blast doing it! They were so proud!

On Saturday night, we met friends in the parking lot of Noel's office to watch the Fayetteville fireworks. We ran around and had snacks, watched a few dance performances by the kids, and then everyone settled in their lawn chairs for the show. Watching fireworks with 10 kids, ages 8 and under, is quite an experience. They were all cheering and clapping and made it so fun! It was Sarah Kate's first time to see fireworks. She was scared at first, but then she decided she loved it. She kept calling them "peacocks." She also kept saying, "What happened to the sun, Mama?" I'm not sure if she just hasn't been out after dark before, or if she thought the fireworks were the sun exploding. It was precious.

On Monday, we went to the lake with Nana, Granddad, and Uncle Kevin. The guys all went out on the boat, and we played with bubbles and had a cookout and homemade ice cream. We watched fireworks again, and the kids loved them!

Sarah Kate's 2nd Birthday Party

2011-07-10T14:39:00.000-05:00

We finally got around to having Sarah Kate's birthday party in June. Sweet Sarah Kate didn't know how late her party was! We were happy to have family and friends over for a Very Hungry Caterpillar party. The party was inspired by the most adorable dress ever from this Etsy shop. We did a caterpillar craft and played a game where the kids wrapped Noel and I up in toilet paper cocoons. The game was a huge hit! Who knew a couple of rolls of toilet paper could be so fun?!?

I made a caterpillar out of cupcakes, and I served all the foods the caterpillar ate in the book. I was surprised at how much people loved salami. Sarah Kate had fun playing with her friends and being the center of attention. She spent the next few days saying, "Happy birthday!"

Sarah Kate--Two years old!

2011-05-27T09:26:00.000-05:00

Happy birthday, Sarah Kate! She is such a big girl now! We are planning a birthday party for June when I am home, but we had cake and opened a few gifts with Aunt Amanda, Asher and Uncle Jamie when they were in town the weekend before her birthday. She got a dollhouse from Grandma and Grandpa and it totally overshadowed the high chair we got for her dolls! :)

Sarah Kate has definitely become quite the talker, and we can actually understand most of what she says now. She also loves to sing! She usually sings "Holy, Holy, Holy," the ABCs, and the Imperial March from Star Wars. (Yep, she's got two older brothers!) She can't sing the words to the hymn or the letters correctly, but you can definitely recognize the tune. She has also learned two catechism questions: "Who made you?" (God) and "Where is God?" (everywhere). She loves to sing the second question with Mommy, and it is so sweet to hear her little voice sing her two-year-old interpretation of the word "everywhere."

We haven't seen a lot of tantrums yet, but we have definitely seen some attitude! When you tell her "no," she will pout and turn her head away, refusing to look at you. Noel and I have to turn away and try not to laugh while we are disciplining her! It's hard to discipline someone so cute, but we know she needs it, even if her rebellion sometimes cracks us up.

Here's some photos of our big two-year-old!

Easter 2011

2011-05-26T21:58:00.000-05:00

We had a great Easter this year! We spent time before Easter using the Resurrection Eggs to talk about Christ's arrest, trial, crucifixion, burial and resurrection. All the kids loved singing "Christ Arose!" after each time we used the Resurrection Eggs. Even Sarah Kate would sing along as best she could!

The weekend before Easter, we had our friends over for our annual Easter egg hunt. The kids hunted for eggs and feasted on pizza and cupcakes.

When my last round of chemo was cancelled, I was able to unexpectedly be home for Easter weekend. Aunt Amanda, Asher and Uncle Jamie were in town, too! It was a wonderful time of family and celebrating Christ's resurrection. He is risen!

Sarah Kate--23 months

2011-04-07T20:15:00.000-05:00

Sarah Kate is almost two! Her language continues to flourish, and she has a lot to say. It's so fun now that we can actually understand most of it! Whenever she gets hurt, she quickly says, "I'm okay!" She's also said, "I'm a mess!" She notices when her brothers are a mess, too, and tries to clean them up. The other day, Will was meowing at her during lunch, and she turned into such a little mother. She tried shushing him, and when that didn't work she said emphatically, "Eat! Eat!" We've also noticed that she calls herself something that sounds like "Kate Kate." Too cute!

With the spring weather, Sarah Kate has enjoyed playing outside. She loves to run around and draw on the driveway with sidewalk chalk. I can't believe she is big enough to ride this little scooter that we got for Will a few years ago!

Famous Will Quotes

2011-04-03T17:43:00.001-05:00

Will has a way of making us laugh non-stop. But sometimes, one of his lines really cracks me up. Here are some from the past few months . . .

"Christopher always loves me. It's like Jesus loves me, except it's Christopher loves me."

In answer to the question, "What scares you?": "Predators. But not predators that are mammals. If it were a predator that looked like a mouse, I would just step on it."

Reporting on his first tee-ball practice: "I got to bat twice. And I did short stop. That's where you just stand there."

To his nanny, Penny: "Will you marry me?" . . . she said yes! . . . "As long as you don't snap my underwear!"

From his PCCA entrance exam, answering the question, "Tell us three interesting things about you": 1. "My top jaw is way back there." 2. "Your brain is a tiny bit smaller than your fists." 3. "When I have coughs, they are really big."

Christopher's 7th Birthday!

2011-03-21T17:10:00.000-05:00

Christopher turned 7 on February 18. His Nana took brownies to school the day before, and on his birthday he went to lunch with Will and Nana and Granddad. That afternoon, he had cupcakes with several friends at a friend's house. Then for dinner, he went with Daddy, his siblings and Grandma to Catfish Hole. He loves it that they play a happy birthday song and bring you a whole plate of tootsie roll pops! Afterwards he had cake and opened presents at Grandma and Grandpa's house. It was a full day of celebrating!

A week later, on the 26th, we had his official birthday party at Mad Pizza. They have a party loft upstairs and make a huge party pizza! Many of Christopher's friends joined us for pizza, cake and some games in the arcade room. It was a blast! Here's some photos:

Sarah Kate--22 months

2011-03-03T16:51:00.000-06:00

This has been a big month for Sarah Kate! She got her first haircut and did a great job being still. I shouldn't have been surprised. One thing that amazes me about her is that she loves for me to clip her fingernails. When the boys were this age, it was such a chore. But I pull out the clippers and she'll hold out her fingers for me, one by one. Why shouldn't a princess enjoy a little pampering from time to time?

Sarah Kate also loves to clean and pick things up. After meals, she will pick up food off the floor and put it in the trash. In fact, sometimes she gets a little too eager and we find "trash" in the trash can that's not really trash! Last week, she found a stray crayon on the floor and went and got the crayon box from the coloring table and brought them both to me so I could put it away.

Sarah Kate's language has really taken off this month. She is saying lots of animal names (my favorite is fuff-fuff-fly), foods (gookie!), and what every girl with two older brothers needs in her vocabulary: "Hey! Stop it!"

We discovered a couple of weeks ago that Sarah Kate can identify several numbers. After reading a numbers book, she pointed to a three on the cover and said "three!" So I asked her the other numbers from 1-10, and she knew most of them. Such a smart girl! She also loves to sit at the coloring table and scribble. I think she feels like a big girl sitting there like her brothers do.

Here are some photos Noel captured at dinner (looks like dessert!) a couple of weeks ago:

Sarah Kate's first haircut

2011-02-22T15:42:00.000-06:00

I never thought, as bald as Sarah Kate was on her first birthday, that she'd need a haircut this soon! Her hair had grown long enough to be in her eyes, and she was starting to sport the baby mullet, so we went for a haircut today. I had no idea how she would do. This morning, I told her she needed to sit still for her haircut, and she said, "okay!" And she did! She had a frown on her face the whole time and seemed pretty apprehensive. But she held still and never fussed. I was so proud of her!

Sarah Kate's singing

2011-02-22T15:34:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, Christopher went to practice the piano, and Sarah Kate seemed to think he was there to accompany her beautiful vocal performance. She stood at the piano and just sang and sang! They both had a great time.

Sarah Kate--21 Months

2011-02-21T20:56:00.008-06:00

Sarah Kate has experienced a lot of snow as a 21 month old! She loves, loves, loves her brown snow boots. But she is not a fan of walking in the snow, so they haven't gotten much use. She has learned to call all of her grandparents by their grandparent-related names (Nana, Granddad, Grandma, Grandpa). She is also speaking in sentences! Well, mostly just one sentence. "I wanna . . . " I wanna cookie. I wanna drink (ga-ga). I wanna see. I wanna go. I wanna eat.

Sarah Kate has also used the potty! But just once. At mother's day out. Her teacher told me that they checked her diaper a couple of times, and she was dry. And then another child in the class was using the potty, and Sarah Kate said she wanted to go potty. (I wanna potty.) So they put her on the potty, and she peed! I was ecstatic, thinking it couldn't be this easy. (It wasn't.) I pulled out the little plastic potty, cleaned it up, and put it in the kids' bathroom. Sarah Kate will say "I wanna potty," but she doesn't want anything to do with actually sitting on the potty. Oh, well--it was a good start!

Sarah Kate's teacher also told me another funny story about our sweet daughter. Apparently, there is a chair in the play area of the room that serves as Sarah Kate's throne. She sits in the chair, and the other kids bring her toys. If someone else is sitting in the chair and Sarah Kate moves in that direction, the other child will get up and let Sarah Kate sit there. The teacher said she isn't mean or rude about it, that's just how it is. So I guess Sarah Kate is the queen bee of the toddler room. It's too bad--no one around here is making her share her toys with them, so I was hoping she was learning some sharing at mother's day out!

Here's some video Noel caught on the video monitor of Sarah Kate when she was supposedly napping. She's a fun little girl!

Will is 5!

2011-02-21T20:55:00.000-06:00

Will had a looong birthday celebration this year. It started on January 15 with a party at JumpZone with lots of his friends. Will loves the giant inflatables and had a great time! He had a cool Spiderman cake and got to sit on a big red throne and open presents.

The next weekend, Will got more cake and balloons and presents from Grandma and Grandpa. On Will's actual birthday, January 24, he went to Chick-fil-a (his choice!) with Daddy, Christopher and Granddad for dinner. Then he opened presents on the video-chat camera with Mommy so we could all see! The next day, Grandma took monster cookies to his preschool class. It was a great birthday celebration!

Christmas 2010

2011-01-16T15:44:00.001-06:00

It's a little late to be blogging about Christmas, but I wanted to have a record of my favorite moments this year. Noel and the boys spend Christmas Eve day with Nana and Granddad, and I joined them after a blood transfusion. We spent some time Christmas morning opening gifts and stockings as a family. Then we went to Grandma and Grandpa's house to spend Christmas with them, Uncle Jamie and Eva. We had a bonus Christmas a few days later when Aunt Amanda, Uncle Brian and Asher came to town. It was a great week! Here are some of my favorite memories:

Will sang "Joy to the World" incessantly through all of December. Christopher loved singing "O Come All Ye Faithful" in Latin, which he learned at school. Sarah Kate was listening all month and sang the tune of the first line of "Joy to the World" and also the glorias from "Angels We Have Heard on High."
When Sarah Kate opened gifts, she had a blast pulling out the tissue paper and saying, "Wow!" A couple of times, she put the tissue paper back in the bag without getting the gift out. (She's great at cleaning up her messes.)
Sarah Kate got a baby doll bed from Grandma and Grandpa. When Grandma brought it out in the midst of opening gifts, Sarah Kate immediately grabbed her baby doll and went to put her in the bed and cover her up for a nap. There was no doubt in her mind who that was for and what it was for.
I also loved Christopher's ecstatic response to his gifts. He would yell the name of whatever it was and lift it over head in jubilant triumph. There was also a sweet moment after the boys opened their gifts to each other--a big hug and sincere thank-yous to each other.
When we opened gifts with Aunt Amanda, Uncle Brian and Asher, Sarah Kate took charge of opening all of Asher's gifts. I guess she thought she was an expert by then. Poor Asher is seven months younger, and someday he'll be even with his pushy cousin!
The morning of Christmas Eve, I had a talk with the boys about being thankful for their gifts and not greedy. I reminded them that Jesus was the reason we celebrate Christmas, not the presents. Christopher solemnly replied, "But Mom, the gifts represent Jesus, who is the greatest gift of all." Nice try, kid.

Here's our Christmas in pictures . . .

Sarah Kate--20 months

2011-01-04T15:45:00.000-06:00

Sarah Kate has had a busy month. She's cut a couple of teeth, taken care of her baby dolls, and learned lots of new words. Her new favorite word is "wow!" She also likes to imitate us saying, "oh my!" She says Will's name very clearly as a two syllable word: "Whee-ull!" And she says "ff ff" for Christopher. She's also saying hello, passy, coat, juice, etc., as well as several animal sounds. She has put words together such as "silly baby Asher" (she says his name like "sigh") or "I wanna see" (when you take her picture). She still loves books and will ask to have her favorites read over and over again.

Sarah Kate had a great time at Christmas! We could have given her empty bags of tissue paper and she probably would have been perfectly content. She would pull the tissue out and say "wow!" Sometimes she would look in the bag and try to pull out the gift, and other times she'd just start putting the tissue paper back in. She got a baby doll bed from Grandma and Grandpa, and it was pure instinct the moment she saw it, as if she knew it must be for her baby doll . . . she immediately picked up her doll and went and put her to bed! It was so cute.

Halloween 2010

2010-12-11T17:10:00.001-06:00

I just realized I never blogged about Halloween, so it will be a little out of order, but here it goes . . . Several months ago, Will decided that he wanted to be Evil Emperor Zurg from Toy Story 2 for Halloween. Because Disney made Zurg costumes once upon a time but now they are VERY expensive on ebay, we put Nana on notice. She made a fabulous Zurg costume to go with the headpiece I ordered and the Zurg blaster a resourceful friend found for us at the Disney Store. Christopher's costume was much simpler, since we have had Buzz Lightyear in our costume box for awhile now. :)

The boys had a great time Halloween weekend . . . they got dressed up to go to the library Halloween storytime with their grandparents, and then we went trick-or-treating with their cousin Caroline on Halloween. They also loved handing out candy to "customers" like they did last year. Sarah Kate rode along for the fun but wasn't a big fan of having her hood up for the full bee-utiful effect. (Sorry, couldn't resist!) And of course, scroll down for the next day when Sarah Kate found her brothers' treat bags unattended--she was a happy girl!

Boys Will Be Boys

2010-12-11T17:03:00.000-06:00

A couple of weeks ago, I took the boys with me to buy some flowers for their aunt's birthday. As we walked from the floral department to the front of Sam's Club, I silently admired how Christopher was carrying the wrapped bouquet so carefully, like such a big kid.

About two seconds later, he had lifted the bouquet on his shoulder and announced, "It's a flower gun!" Without missing a beat, Will chimed in, "Fire!" They spent the rest of the time in Sam's with Will pointing out targets, and Christopher taking them down. Oh, well.

Sarah Kate--19 months

2010-12-11T16:58:00.000-06:00

A slightly belated post, but I need to acknowledge another month has passed in the life of Sarah Kate! She is becoming a toddler with a mind of her own. She loves to play with her baby dolls and push them around the house in the stroller. She needs a double-stroller--she sometimes has three babies piled on one little stroller! She also is using more words like Grandma, Grandpa, Will, and Bubby (brother) more regularly. She jabbers all day long, we just can't understand most of it!

In November, Sarah Kate joined us for a trip to Silver Dollar City and actually rode a ride! I hadn't realized when we were there just a few weeks earlier that she could ride one of the kiddie rides. She wasn't so sure at first, but once we started moving, she loved it! In fact, she threw a fit when it was time to get off! We rode it twice while we were there, and she had a great time. She also got in on a little of the Frosty the Snowman show with Daddy after a nap in her stroller. And of course, she got a front-row seat during the lights parade, complete with funnel cake for dinner. It was a big day!

Sarah Kate--18 months

2010-11-03T16:18:00.000-05:00

A year and a half old already! I can't believe it. Sarah Kate loves to talk and sing. Her favorite songs are the ABC's (which she sings "dee dee dee" but with a pretty good tune), the Itsy Bitsy Spider (often requested on the changing table), and Holy, Holy, Holy. (See video below.) She understands a lot of language and will obey when we tell her to do something or put something back where she got it. She answers almost every question with "no," but sometimes she'll nod her head "yes."

Sarah Kate loves to play with her kitchen and her dolls and, of course, with shoes. She loves to climb on things and has learned to climb into the van and onto the dining room chairs (especially if her brothers leave Halloween candy where she can reach it!). She can point to her ear, eyes, nose (usually sticking her finger into her nostril), mouth, hair, hands and feet. (See video.) She can often been found wandering around the house with her toothbrush and toothpaste, waiting for someone to brush her teeth! Such a silly girl!

Sarah Kate--17 months

2010-10-01T14:44:00.001-05:00

Sarah Kate is definitely out of the baby stage and into the toddler stage! She seems so grown up, jabbering and staying busy all day long. She loves to play with her plastic tea set and take care of her babies. She loves to sit in her big brothers' chairs and ride their plasma cars. She's learned to use a spoon pretty well. And she's using several words: Mommy, Daddy, bubbas (brothers), pees (please or can also mean cheese if she sees a camera), dah pees (down, please), baby, shoes, hi, bye-bye, no, dah dah (all done).

She also loves books . . . she will sit and look at them herself for quite awhile, and if you are willing to read to her, that could never end! She definitely has a few favorite books that she brings to me over and over again. Like this one . . .

and this one . . .

and of course, this one . . .

Sarah Kate continues to be very interested in shoes and clothes. She loves to wear shoes, and even managed to convince two different grandparents to put her shoes on with her pajamas! In fact, "shoes" is one of the few words she loves to say. A couple of weeks ago, she was having reading time in her crib, and when I went in to get her, this is what I found:

If she could only get her arms out of her sleeves, she would have been completely undressed!

Thankfully, after a couple of months of sheer rebellion, Sarah Kate has realized that if she will just say "please," we will clap and cheer and give her whatever we want. So our little girl is finally getting some manners! My favorite is when she sweetly says, "down, please!" when I'm holding her. (Of course, even better is when I'm holding her and she hugs my neck tightly and lays her head on my shoulder. She is such a snuggler!)

We can't wait to find out all that Sarah Kate wants us to know! All day long, she says, "Mama?" followed by a string of gibberish. You can definitely tell that much of the gibberish is the same set of "words," but we haven't been able to decipher much yet. When she babbles on and on and on at the the dinner table, Noel gets a little concerns and asks, "This talking thing is just a phase, right?" He's learning what life is like with a little girl! She's got a lot to tell us!

Go Hogs Go!

2010-09-04T06:33:00.000-05:00

In honor of the Hogs' new football season, a flashback to three years ago . . . wow, they've grown so much!

First day--First grade!

2010-09-01T15:48:00.000-05:00

Christopher started 1st grade last week. He was sick for the first day of school, and he was so devastated! But he was able to make it for the second day of school. His teacher is fabulous, and he is enjoying all his subjects. He also liked the upgrade from kindergarten: no rest time! And the most exciting thing about the first day of first grade?

"Mom! At math, she had a light, and it shone a clear math worksheet on the WALL."

Yep, the overhead projector.

Here's pictures from our "first" day of school:

Sarah Kate--16 months

2010-09-01T15:35:00.000-05:00

This has been an eventful month for Sarah Kate. Two days after I blogged about her lack of interest in walking, she decided to start walking across the room! (See video below.) While we were on vacation in Kansas City, she started to transition from crawling more to walking more. And by the time she turned 16 months, she had abandoned crawling all together. She's a great walker now!

This month she also went with us on our family vacation to Great Wolf Lodge. She had a blast playing in the pool and water fountains. It was so fun to watch her joy! We also enjoyed a visit from Aunt Amanda and 9-month-old Asher this month. Sarah Kate loved "baby!" That is, until I started holding him. The two littlest cousins had a great time playing together when Sarah Kate wasn't bopping Asher on the head.

She has also been busy cutting one-year molars (still missing other teeth in between) and eating everything in sight. She has gone from eating almost nothing to clearing her high-chair tray once or twice (or three times!) a meal. Such a big girl!

Sarah Kate has finally gotten to the point where she doesn't want me to leave and cries. But I've been told she gets over it quickly. She gets SO excited when Daddy gets home from work and wants to give him kisses. She also loves to hug and kiss on her brothers. We all love hugs from Sarah Kate!

Below are videos of Sarah Kate's first big day of walking, Sarah Kate riding on her brother's plasma car, and some photos of her with her cousin Asher and brothers.

Great Wolf Lodge 2010

2010-08-22T14:41:00.000-05:00

We took the kids to Great Wolf Lodge in Kansas City again this year, and it was a big hit! I think it was even more fun anticipating the trip since we already knew how much fun we would have. We gave the kids clues from The Mysterious Monday Messenger for a few weeks before the trip and so they got to figure out what we were doing:

When the big day finally arrived, the boys were SO excited. We got to Great Wolf Lodge on Tuesday afternoon and went immediately to the indoor water park. We played all afternoon, then got settled in our room and went to dinner at Ted's Montana Grill. Yum! By dinnertime, Grandma and Grandpa had arrived. We were so thankful to have them there. Vacationing with a 4:3 adult to child ratio is definitely the way to go!

Grandpa and the boys at story time:

On Wednesday, Grandpa and Noel took the boys to play miniature golf and go explore at Cabela's. We had lunch at the much-anticipated T-Rex Cafe. I was worried that Sarah Kate might be scared of the dinos this year, but she was fine. We also discovered a travel tip: if you are a GWL guest, you can do the digging activities at T-Rex Cafe for just 99 cents. Hooray for a bargain! (Ok, let's be honest. Nothing about T-Rex is a bargain, but it sure is fun!)

We spent the afternoon at the water park, and then ate a quick dinner at Culver's. That evening at story time, Will became a little obsessed with Violet the Wolf. The kids scream to wake up Violet from her nap, and she comes out to say hello. (Will wanted nothing to do with actually saying hello to Violet, but Christopher waited in line to see her every night.) Will just had to know where Violet was sleeping. So we asked one of the GWL staff, and she pointed down a hallway and said it was in a room that way. Will wanted to know if he could go in and see Violet's bed. Uh, no. So plans for a stake-out were hatched . . .

On Thursday, we went to the water park for the morning, and dined at Cheeseburger in Paradise for lunch. That afternoon, we went to the Cub Club at GWL, where the kids decorated some over-priced t-shirts. They also had puppets, toys, and a video playing. The boys didn't want to leave! That evening, my parents let Noel and I go on a date while they fed the kids and went to story time. This time, when it was time to wake up Violet, Will went down the hallway so he could see which room she came out of. Mission accomplished!

Friday morning, we went to the water park one last time before check-out. We also had to make one last stop at Cub Club to play with the toys. After lunch at IHOP, we headed for home.

It was fun to see how the kids reacted to the trip differently this year than last year. Christopher was Mr. Independent and wanted to not only ride everything in sight, but to ride it by himself. Will is still pretty cautious and didn't want anything to do with the water slides. He spent most of his time dog-paddling around the pool or floating on the lazy river. Sarah Kate never made it out of the stroller last year, but this year she was toddling around the shallow areas and fountains, having a blast. She was not afraid to get her face wet or have water pour all over her head. I'm so thankful we got to take this trip again!

Monkey Prayers

2010-08-07T08:58:00.000-05:00

Yesterday Will said he wished he were a monkey. This seems to go along well with his career goal of being a bear. This morning at breakfast, this was his prayer:

Thank you, God, thank you for this food. And please let us be a monkey. Amen.

Nothing like takin' it to the Lord in prayer.

Straw Skills

2010-08-07T08:53:00.000-05:00

Yesterday Sarah Kate wanted one of her brother's drinks (Orange Crush), so I let her try to drink from the straw. It took several tries, but finally I could see the orange liquid make it all the way to her mouth. It was her first taste of anything other than water, diluted juice or milk, and she wasn't sure what to think! She made a face and didn't want more immediately. But she had figured out that straw pretty well. Good job, Sarah Kate!

Sarah Kate--15 months

2010-07-28T20:14:00.000-05:00

Sarah Kate is getting to be such a big girl! Is it possible we're starting the terrible twos already? That girl has some OPINIONS. She answers most questions with "no," although she does answer "yes" occasionally. She wants to eat whatever we're eating, and she lets us know by leaning toward the desired object, opening her mouth wide and saying "Ahhh!" She also does this when she sees me with a drink or sees any toothbrush. :)

One sweet new skill this month is giving kisses, complete with the sound effect, which she pronounces "mmm-NA!" When Daddy came home from work today, she said "hi! hi! hi!" over and over again, until she saw him kiss me, and then she said, "mmm-NA!"

Sarah Kate is slowly becoming more of a walker. She's taken up to 10 steps at a time by herself, and she loves to walk all over the house if she can just borrow one finger from someone else. Most of her walking has been done when she thinks no one is watching. If you try to get her to walk for you, forget it! So we might not have video of this feat for awhile.

She's also started using a fork, primarily because the other day she brought a little plastic fork from the toy tea set to lunch with her, and I noticed she was successfully stabbing banana slices and getting them to her mouth. So I gave her an actual baby fork, and she did great!

Sarah Kate has learned where her nose is but can't seem to remember any other body part. And while learning about her nose, she has discovered it has these two nifty holes in it that are just the right size for her finger. She spends a lot of time at the dinner table with a finger in her nose, just checking it out.

Will's new bike!

2010-07-01T21:05:00.000-05:00

Last Sunday we got Will his first bike. He's doing awesome with it already! We're so proud of you, Will--you are such a big boy!

Sarah Kate--14 months

2010-07-01T21:02:00.000-05:00

Sarah Kate continues to make us laugh with her babbling, squealing (must be a girl thing!), and laughing. She is starting to do more pretend play with kitchen toys and dolls. (While we're on the subject, she loves dolls!) She loves to say "hi!" and points to things all day long saying "those?" and wanting me to either tell her what it is and/or give it to her so she can put it in her mouth. She continues her obsession with shoes and often tries to get my shoes on her feet, which is an improvement over putting them in her mouth!

Sarah Kate loves books and will sit on my lap through however many books I have time to read. Today she kept turning back to the front of "Peekaboo Kisses" several times until I finally put it away! She has gotten really good at her upright crawl and shows very infrequent interest in walking. She also went to the pool for the first time this past month. She loves splashing in the water! In fact, she gets upset if I'm holding her in the pool and she can't reach the water.

Here are some photos and videos from this month . . .

This one gets a little slow in the middle, but it's funny again at the end:

Baseball 2010

2010-07-01T20:59:00.000-05:00

Christopher had a blast playing baseball this year. We were blessed with fabulous coaches, and they were so encouraging to Christopher (despite a definite lack of natural ability). At his age, they get three pitches from the coach, and then they get to try to hit it off the tee. Midway through the season, I tried my best to talk Christopher out of his desire to play baseball next year, when the tee is absent. He just wasn't hitting it from the coach at all. Well, in his last game, he proved me wrong--he hit it with the coach pitching TWICE! The last hit was a strong drive inside the third base line. I was so proud of him! He definitely earned the right to play again next year if he decides he wants to. Here's some videos of photos of Christopher in action.

Last big hit:

Sliding into home:

Hitting off the tee, with his "fake-'em-out" strategy:

Practicing Piano

2010-07-01T20:34:00.001-05:00

Do you think Christopher will ever learn to play the piano with all this "help" from Sarah Kate?

Cooking Shows

2010-07-01T20:32:00.001-05:00

Today as Sarah Kate was playing with her kitchen toys (ok, they're mine, she doesn't have a play kitchen yet, poor thing), Christopher hatched the idea to film a cooking show. And since we were home all day waiting for someone to puke (because Will had the night before), I was just desperate enough for entertainment that I let him waste a fruit cup and 1/2 cup milk on this little project. Of course, Will had to follow in his footsteps, so it ended up being 2 fruit cups and 1 cup milk. Anyway, here are all three kids' cooking videos. They can get a little slow, but I find them entertaining! And in case you are wondering, we did eat "fruit cup dip" with tortilla chips at dinner tonight.

For the Record: Sarah Kate's Steps

2010-06-30T17:22:00.001-05:00

I don't have any video or photos yet, because it is hard to get her to actually show it off, but Sarah Kate is taking some steps! Her first step was back on June 3, and since thenthere have maybe been a couple other times that she has taken one little step. She is such a good crawler and has developed an upright crawl (video to follow) that she uses carry toys and get around at the same time, so she's not too interested in walking. But today at Nana and Granddad's house, she took about three or four steps to Granddad! Way to go, Sarah Kate! It might be another month before she does it again, but we know she can do it!

Burpy Slurpies

2010-06-26T20:12:00.000-05:00

We have had an imaginary friend who has been at our house for over two years now. His name is Burpy Slurpy, and he is a burp. He arrived early in 2008, and apparently has been breeding, because there are now multiple burpy slurpies around. Sometimes they come places with us, and sometimes they stay at home. When they ride in the car, they are buckled into the unused seat belt in the middle of the back seat. Will likes to race his burpie slurpies, and he can beat them at getting dressed, swimming, etc. Christopher usually just talks about Burpy Slurpy (the original?), and Will talks about "my burpie slurpies."

If you are paying attention, you may think I can't make up my mind about how to spell our imaginary friends' names: burpy slurpy or burpie slurpie? I asked Christopher about this the other day, and after some thought, he decided that "the males are spelled with a 'y' and the females are spelled with an 'ie'." After which Will said, "Are females girls? All my burpie slurpies are girls."

I can say one thing about my life: it never gets boring! :)

Sarah Kate--13 months

2010-05-31T14:03:00.003-05:00

Sarah Kate is so much fun these days. She is a chatterbox . . . mostly chatter that we can't understand at all, and she is LOUD. But she says Dada, Mama, banana (nana), please (pees), all done (da da), and more (mah). And talks in her gibberish all day long, complete with facial expressions and outbursts of laughter. It is so entertaining!

Sarah Kate just started standing up without holding on to anything, and she is so proud of herself! We can't get her to take a step after she stands up, but Christopher has declared, "She will be walking in days." We'll see! She also has started dancing and really enjoys sitting and looking at books. She also loves to play with her brothers' legos . . . taking them apart and trying to put them together. She is so patient with it--it's not easy for a 13-month-old to get those legos to fit together! This month she went on her longest trip yet. We were so proud of how well she did on the trip to Illinois and Indianapolis!

Here's a video of her newest trick:

Christopher's Kindergarten Journal

2010-05-29T16:36:00.001-05:00

At Christopher's school, they have about 4 journal assignments a week, two at school and two at home. His school journal stayed at school, and I didn't really see it until he brought it home at the end of the year. The idea is that at the beginning of the year, the kids are getting down words with spaces between them and the starting sound correct (but not necessarily any other correct spelling). By the end of the year, their spelling improves and they start understanding punctuation, use of adjectives, etc. Christopher started off spelling pretty well because he is such a good reader. But his spelling and punctuation both improved over the course of the year. We loved looking through his journal and seeing what he wrote. Here are some of my favorites (his teacher wrote correct spelling underneath so he could start to learn it):

First day of school entry:

Close-up of the drawing on this one:

Indianapolis!

2010-05-29T16:27:00.000-05:00

Last weekend, we headed back to Indianapolis for the first time since we moved three years ago. It was so strange to drive those roads again, and it was fun to see all our friends (who looked exactly the same) and their kids (whose faces seemed to have been transplanted onto taller bodies). For the sake of record keeping, here are the daily details of our trip:

Thursday: We drove about 8 1/2 hours to Bloomington, IL. My brother Jamie helped us out by driving from Michigan to northern IL to pick up my grandfather and bring him to Bloomington to see us. Sarah Kate did pretty well on her first major road trip challenge. When we got to the hotel, the boys were thrilled not only with the hotel, but also with the indoor pool, which they enjoyed with Daddy. We had dinner with Jamie and Great-Grandpa, then put the kids to bed and visited for awhile.

Friday: We spent the morning in Bloomington with Jamie and Great-Grandpa. Christopher was ecstatic over Fruit Loops at breakfast, and Will had "cake" (coffeecake). Then they hit the pool again, this time with Uncle Jamie, who got a workout with two boys hanging all over him! We had lunch at Olive Garden, said good-bye, and headed to Indianapolis. That evening, Noel had meetings to attend, and I met my friend Ashley for dessert while our awesome babysitter Dre stayed with the kids.

Saturday: Noel spent the morning at meetings, and the kids and I spent the morning at Ashley's house with her 4 younger kids. It was a madhouse, but the kids had a great time! After eating lunch with them, we headed back to the hotel for some much-needed naps. Christopher and Noel went to the Indianapolis Speedway to watch qualifications for the Indy 500. Christopher loved watching the fast race cars and made a new friend, Tommy, who shares his birthday. Late that night, things took a small turn for the worse when Will woke up with a fever of 102.

Sunday: Noel and I were thankful that Redeemer Presbyterian has gone to two services since we left! Since Will was sick, Noel headed to the early service and got back to the hotel just in time for Christopher and I to go to the late service. It was wonderful to worship with our former church family, and Christopher and I even sat in our old pew. :) That afternoon, I got to visit with my friend Linda and her three beautiful teenage daughters. Noel and the boys swam in the hotel's indoor pool. And that evening, Noel and I had a great dinner with several of our friends. It was so fun to see everyone again! While we were at dinner, Christopher managed to pull a loose tooth at bedtime. Noel had promised him $3 instead of the usual $2 if he pulled it on our trip. I guess the Indiana Tooth Fairy has higher rates!

Monday: We had planned to meet friends at the Children's Museum, but Will's fever was persisting, so we decided an open-air activity might spread fewer germs. So we headed to the zoo! It was HOT, but the boys loved it. Sarah Kate came with us for awhile and then was rescued by Dre, who took her back to the hotel for a nap. We touched sharks, sat in the "Splash Zone" at the dolphin show (but only got splashed once), saw all the animals, and rode the train and carousel. Will was asleep in the car before we were a block away from the zoo! After much-needed naps, the boys and I got in one last hotel swim. That evening we had dinner with Dre at our old favorite, Macaroni Grill, and Noel spent some time with his guy friends.

Tuesday: We ate breakfast at the Cracker Barrel that the boys could see from the hotel (Will had been asking for pancakes for days, but didn't really feel well enough to eat them), and headed for home. It was a 12 hour trip, but the kids did well. Overall, it was a great trip with happy memories, even if it was a little lacking in sleep. :) We hope it isn't another three years before we get back to see our Hoosier friends again!

End of School Celebrations

2010-05-29T16:04:00.000-05:00

May has been a whirlwind! Christopher's last day of school was May 6. His school celebrated with a field day, where Christopher had a blast playing on inflatables, getting soaked by a firetruck's hose, and eating snowcones and popsicles. The next day, our family celebrated by heading to Silver Dollar City y with Nana and Granddad, Aunt Laura, Uncle Garland and Caroline. We saw friends there, too, so it was a super fun trip! Poor Sarah Kate got pretty wiped out, but she did great. She finally got a nap in her stroller, but shortly after that, we grabbed her out to take her in to see the Chinese acrobats. It might have cost her a nap, but it was worth it for the rest of us! Besides the acrobats, we enjoyed all our favorite rides and tried out a new one--the Hi-Lo Silos. The boys loved them (probably because they weren't the ones hauling the chair to the top of the silo!). Christopher also rode the Grand Exposition Roller Coaster for the first time--first with Daddy, then a few times with his buddy, Ruth. Here's photos from Christopher's last day of school and our Silver Dollar City trip:

Christopher's Kindergarten Graduation

2010-05-05T20:39:00.000-05:00

Mix together a few dozen 6-year-olds in caps and gowns, a sweet slideshow and a bunch of teary mothers, and what do you get? A kindergarten graduation! Christopher had a large cheering section on hand to watch him officially graduation from kindergarten on April 29. Each child received a Character Award--Christopher's was very appropriately "Responsibility." He also received a diploma and a flower to give to his mom. (That was when I *almost* lost it.) They showed a slideshow of the entire year, and it was amazing to see how young they looked back in August. Our little kindergarteners are all grown up and ready for 1st grade!

Church friends:

Best buddy Breck:

Greeting his entourage:

Waiting for the excitement to start:

Flowers for Mrs. Moore:

Receiving his character award:

Receiving his diploma:

Mrs. Moore's class:

Christopher and "the best teacher in the world":

The whole gang:

A banana split at Braum's to celebrate:

Sarah Kate is ONE!

2010-05-05T20:38:00.001-05:00

We have had some fun birthday parties in the past. Trains, dump trucks, rockets, dinosaurs, cars, ocean animals . . . I'm so glad we had a girl this time, because I was running out of boy themes! And it was SO fun to plan a pink-tulle-infested celebration this time around! We had lots of family and friends join us to celebrate Sarah Kate's first birthday. After eating pizza, we sang "Happy Birthday" while Sarah Kate grinned and clapped. Then I presented her with a huge strawberry cupcake, which she very daintily and very eagerly enjoyed. Every now and then, she would look up to make sure people were still watching, and then go back to her cupcake. After Nana and I cleaned her up, we opened presents--lots of fun clothes and toys! It was a fun party, and the birthday girl seemed to have a blast and didn't even have a meltdown. I was so proud of her! And of course, she looked beautiful in her "1" shirt that my friend Marilyn made just for her and a fabulous tutu from Hannah's Tutus. Grandpa said tutus are only for ballet recitals, and we were happy to prove him wrong! :) My friend Callie took the photos, and they are AMAZING. If you live nearby, I highly recommend her for all your photography needs.

On Sarah Kate's actual birthday, we went for dinner at Chick-fil-a with some friends who were out of town for her party. She also opened her gifts from us and her brothers. It was a fun day!

A little bit about one-year milestones: Sarah Kate is still cruising around everywhere and loves to walk holding on to Mommy's hands. She is drinking milk from a sippy cup and doing a great job feeding herself lots of different foods. She isn't a big fan of vegetables, but she LOVES crackers. She also loves to play peek-a-boo, especially in her high chair. She is starting to sign "more" very consistently and babbles with great emotion.

Happy birthday, Sarah Kate! You bring so much joy to our family. We love you and can't wait to see what the next year holds!

All photos by Callie Granderson Photography

He is Risen!

2010-04-06T11:09:00.000-05:00

We had a fun-filled Easter this year with the kids. They went on FOUR Easter egg hunts, and Will actually had five because he had one at preschool! Sarah Kate had fun "finding" the eggs we pointed out to her and then shaking them like rattles.

We dyed eggs for the first time this year, although the glue and colored sand that came with the kit didn't turn out as great as I thought it would. On Saturday, we had lots of friends over for an Easter egg hunt, pizza and cupcakes. The weather was gorgeous, and we had a great time! On Easter, we worshipped our Risen Lord with our church family, had lunch with Noel's family and dinner with my family. Through it all, we were blessed to have my cousin Katie visiting us from Florida!

Here are some photos of the weekend. And yes, there are lots of photos of Sarah Kate. I think they're all adorable and couldn't help sharing ALL of them with you!

Spring Break 2010

2010-04-02T17:37:00.000-05:00

For Spring Break this year, we didn't go anywhere, so I tried to come up with some fun things to do at home. The first weekend, we got 10 inches (!!!!) of snow, so that Sunday was our pajama party day. We had pancakes, watched movies in sleeping bags all day, and played in the snow.

We also had two dinosaur days. We used a kit I got from T-Rex Cafe to make a glow-in-the-dark velociraptor skeleton and fossils out of plaster paris. We read dinosaur books, drew pictures of dinos on huge paper, and ate dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets. (Thank you, Tyson!) We also made dino-shaped rice krispie treats and the boys decorated them with cookie decorating gel. Needless to say, the boys LOVED dinosaur days!

On the Thursday of spring break, Nana kept Sarah Kate while Noel and I took the boys to Tulsa to the aquarium. (We were hoping for the zoo, but the weather did not cooperate.) We had a great time seeing all the fish and other animals. One of the boys' favorite parts was putting pennies in the huge spiral thing and watching them roll down. If anyone knows where I can find one of these in town, let me know!

The second weekend of break, we were invited to go with some friends to box seats at a Razorback baseball game. It was super windy and rained a little, but we had a great time. This is what happens when I ask the boys to "look at me and smile!"

Sarah Kate--11 months

2010-04-02T17:06:00.001-05:00

Sarah Kate keeps us laughing with her smile and very serious babbling. She's eating lots of fun food now--cheese toast and chicken nuggets are her absolute favorites. She had her first Chick-fil-a nuggets and waffle fries on Monday, and they were a big hit! She isn't too keen on the fruits and veggies, but she loves bananas. Hopefully her tastes will start to branch out after awhile. Here's Sarah Kate on March 27 at a Razorback baseball game, and below is a video of her saying "yes" and "no."

A Job, A Problem, and "Don't Tell Mom!"

2010-03-14T11:17:00.000-05:00

Last month, I took all three kids to the pediatrician for well check-ups. Our pediatrician is wonderful about talking to the boys and finding out about what they're interested in, etc. She asked Will if he had any chores at home. He answered, "I don't have any chores, but I have a job and a problem." Of course, she said she'd like to hear about his job and his problem. He told her that his job was to keep Sarah Kate awake in the car. (Yep, that's a pretty frequent assignment.) And his problem? "Yesterday after we went somewhere, my Grandpa gave me something to eat and it was very sour." The day before, Grandpa had been given some pickled beets by a co-worker, and he had the boys try them. I guess it was traumatic for poor Will!

Around the same time, I was driving somewhere with the kids, and Will was sitting next to Sarah Kate in the middle seat of the van. I heard him say, "Christopher, don't tell Mom . . . I just put spit on Sarah Kate!" I said, "Will! I'm right here, and I can hear you! You may not put spit on your sister!" Will replied, "No, Mom, you can't hear me. I wasn't talking to you." Ah, the logic of a 4-year-old in trouble.

Sarah Kate--10 months

2010-03-04T19:47:00.001-06:00

Two months from now I will have a one-year-old. I am in complete denial. It helps that she is so little! At her 9 month appointment, Sarah Kate was in the 75th percentile for length and 10th percentile for weight. She has grown and changed so much this month! She has three teeth on the top now, so she's been starting to eat "real people" food like bread, cheese, crackers and (don't tell the pediatrician!) cinnamon rolls at Panera. Yum, yum!

Sarah Kate has also been learning sign language and can sign "more" and "all done," but doesn't do them too regularly. She can also wave bye-bye and sometimes even says "buh buh" along with it. She can also shake her head for "no." She seems to be using "mama" and "dada" to actually refer to Daddy and me. And if I hold her and say, "Where are my snuggles?" she will lay her head on my shoulder. It's my absolute favorite!

The other day I saw her walk halfway around her pack'n'play, holding on to the side. I had suspected that she could do it, but I hadn't actually seen it. Her brothers were thrilled! I have a feeling we'll have a walker on our hands in the not-so-distant future.

Christopher's 6th Birthday

2010-02-25T13:58:00.001-06:00

I realize I start all the birthday posts this way, but I cannot believe Christopher is SIX! We had a great time celebrating this year. On his birthday, he wanted to go to dinner at the Catfish Hole, because he's seen people being sung to on their birthday there. They play "Happy Birthday" over the loudspeaker for the entire restaurant to hear--so much fun! After dinner, he opened his gifts from us. His favorite was his new watch. Daddy had promised him that if he learned to tell time, he'd get a new watch. He worked hard for it, and he looks so grown up wearing it!

Christopher decided a year ago that he wanted a Transformers party at JumpZone, and he never wavered. We invited his kindergarten class and a couple other friends, and it was so much fun. It was a special treat having Aunt Amanda and Asher here, too.

Meeting Asher

2010-02-25T13:45:00.002-06:00

We were SO happy to have Aunt Amanda and our new cousin Asher here this past week! Sarah Kate and I had been out to Utah to see him, but the boys hadn't met him yet. And since we think we are baby experts, they had a great time playing with him, trying to get him to smile, and informing Grandpa that he only drinks milk. Sarah Kate, on the other hand, was only interested in grabbing his face. Someday they'll play happily together, but for now, Asher needs a bodyguard!

First Valentine's Day

2010-02-25T13:45:00.000-06:00

And just because the hair is awesome:

Mr. Snowman

2010-02-25T13:34:00.000-06:00

Back on February 8, one of our many snowy days this winter, the boys had a blast sledding and building a snowman with Granddad. I didn't have the appropriate snowman-making accessories, but I did have an old bag of baby carrots.

Maybe Hallmark Should Pick This Up

2010-02-15T10:15:00.000-06:00

When we made valentines a week ago, Noel was returning home from a pheasant hunting trip in Kansas. Here's the valentine that Christopher made for his daddy.

Yes, that's a dead pheasant on the back. And the shotgun has a cute little heart sticker on it. I still laugh out loud every time I think about this!

Snow Day!

2010-02-02T11:17:00.001-06:00

Last Friday, we got an unusually large amount of snow. It was so exciting! Unfortunately, the boys were both sick, so we had to limit their time playing out in the cold. But they did go sledding for the first time with Daddy and enjoyed playing in the snow fort he made for them in the backyard. Here's some photos and videos:

Please say this isn't happening . . .

2010-02-02T11:14:00.000-06:00

But yes, it's true. She's pulling up. We are now at that happy stage where she can pull up to standing, but doesn't know how to sit back down. It adds a fun new wrinkle to naptime, and also means I might need to do some re-decorating around the house. :)

Sarah Kate--9 months

2010-02-02T10:54:00.000-06:00

It's tough being the little sister of two big brothers . . . often the closest available toy is a weapon of some sort. She also loves their light sabers!

Once again, Sarah Kate has had a big month! She has really taken off with the crawling and is into everything. She has gotten a tooth on top (not her middle ones, but they are coming in now), and has figured out how to drink from a sippy cup (if someone else holds it for her). Her greatest accomplishment was figuring out how to pick up cheerios and put them in her mouth. Hooray for independent eating!!

She is also using lots of different sounds in her babbling now. Her big brothers get ecstatic over all the new "words" she is saying!

Will's 4th Birthday

2010-02-02T10:10:00.000-06:00

Happy birthday, Will! We celebrated his January 24 birthday with a DINO-MITE party at our house. I'm glad Will warmed up to the idea, because when we were first planning his party, he informed me that it could not be at our house because he wanted to invite ALL his friends, and he has 100 friends, and they will not all fit in our house. But eventually we talked him into a party at our house with just some of his friends. :)

At his party, we did a couple of dinosaur crafts, played pin the horn on the triceratops, had a relay race with big cardboard dino feet, dug for dinos in a bucket of sand (yes, in the house), ate cake and ice cream, and opened gifts. It was a whirlwind of energy and fun, and I think all the kids had a blast!

We celebrated Will's birthday as a family the next day, his actual birthday. Will opened his gifts from us, and then we took him to dinner at Red Lobster. It's his favorite restaurant because he likes to look at the lobsters in the tank by the front door. Will got a dessert with a candle in it, and some of the waiters sang happy birthday to him. He loved having dessert--a rare treat at a restaurant! He was also very intrigued by a man at the next table with some, um, interesting facial piercings. We had to have a little manners lesson about not continuously pointing at someone who might make different piercing choices than we do. :)

Here's the photos from the big birthday bash . . .

The dinosaur cake

Will's dinosaur zoo that he drew for the party

Christopher also drew dinosaur decorations

Will's birthday poster on his bedroom door

Front door decoration

The birthday boy and his cake

Crafts: stickers and making bookmarks

Dino feet relay

Playing pin the horn on the triceratops--Will came the closest!

Christopher in his dino nose

Make a wish!

Sugar infusion time (their parents will thank me later)

Opening gifts, with lots of help

Digging for dinos in the sand--this was a big hit!

Will's birthday dessert at Red Lobster

Will's birthday celebration with his class at preschool

Birthday hat and birthday chair

The Universal Principle of Mobile Infants

2010-01-12T20:43:00.002-06:00

Toys will be ignored completely. Non-toys will be devoured with gusto. (Note the untouched toys at the bottom of the photo.)

On the move!

2010-01-11T18:11:00.001-06:00

Sarah Kate is on the move! She started crawling a little bit on New Year's Day. A week later, she started really getting places, and today she mastered crawling even on the hardwood floors. Today, Christopher asked, "Is it okay if she is crawling all over the house?" Well, it isn't really okay, but there's nothing we can do!

Happy New Year!

2010-01-04T21:08:00.000-06:00

Sarah Kate--8 months

2010-01-04T21:07:00.001-06:00

Sarah Kate has changed so much in the last month! She has had many firsts . . . her first airplane ride, her first Christmas, her first snow, her first bath in the big tub (which she LOVES). She says "mama" (not necessarily to me) and is starting to prefer me over others, which is both flattering and difficult sometimes. :) She can push herself up to sitting and has even done some slow crawling. She is very determined when she wants something and can usually manage to get to it one way or another! She also likes to wave bye-bye (but not when you ask her to) and bops her head when she hears music. She is so much fun!

Christmas 2009

2010-01-04T21:07:00.000-06:00

Christmas was a blast this year! It was chaotic, since Sarah Kate and I got home from Utah late on the 22nd and the festivities began at our house on the 24th, but it was lots of fun. My brother Jamie and his girlfriend Eva came in from Michigan, and we had a great time getting to know her. We celebrated with my family on the 24th. We had a huge meal and opened lots of presents, then headed to church. Here's some photos from Christmas, Part I:

The table set with silverware stockings made by me and decorated by the boys:

Sarah Kate and Grandpa:

Eating photos . . . always a little awkward:

Look at all these PRESENTS!

Ready for church, Christmas Eve:

Christmas pajamas:

Santa and his friends had a little fun after the kids went to bed:

On Christmas morning, the kids woke up to find stockings and presents under the tree, and best of all--a white Christmas! Such a rare thing here, and it was a great one. The boys got plasma cars, which they had never heard of before, but it didn't take them long to start racing around the house! The kids opened their gifts from us and then went out to play in the snow. Right before lunchtime, we decided to try to make it to Noel's parents' house to celebrate with all of his family. We had a very traumatic time getting up the mountain where they live, but thanks to the kindness of a neighbor, we all made it safe and sound--eventually. Once we were there we enjoyed food and gifts with Nana, Granddad, Uncle Kevin, Aunt Laura, Uncle Garland and our cousin Caroline. Here's photos from Christmas, Part II:

The boys and their plasma cars:

Playing in the snow:

The spot where we got stuck on the ice for 45 minutes:

Sarah Kate and Aunt Laura:

Caroline saying "cheese!":

Caroline loves Sarah Kate:

Opening gifts:

And finally, this video doesn't quite capture it, but "Angels We Have Heard On High" was a favorite carol around here this year. The boys both love it, and at church on Christmas Eve, Christopher sang the "gloria" part so loudly that I laughed until I cried. When it was over, he turned to me and said, "Mom, I really busted out that refrain!" Well, Sarah Kate seems to have joined in her brother's love for this Christmas carol. We couldn't get her to do it much on the video, but usually when you sing the gloria, she opens her mouth wide and sings "aaahhhhh!" It is too cute!

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMOIODbSPI4 if it won't play.)

A New Cousin!

2010-01-04T21:06:00.001-06:00

On November 29, my sister Amanda and her husband Brian welcomed their first baby, Asher Greeley. We are so excited to have a new cousin! Before Christmas, Sarah Kate and I flew out to Utah to visit them. Sarah Kate did great . . . as I expected, she grinned at everyone on the plane, hardly cried at all, and even slept on the flight both ways. Asher is so little and sweet, and I loved getting to snuggle with him. Sarah Kate kept trying to grab his face, so she didn't get much bonding time with her new cousin. She loved their dog, Staley, and even let him lick her hands. He tried to lick her face when she was eating her baby food, but I wouldn't let him! Sarah Kate also saw her first snow as we were leaving for the airport. The boys were very jealous that we were going to Utah (mostly because we were going on a plane), but they did great at home with Daddy, Nana and Granddad. They'll get to meet Asher in February!

Will's Christmas Program

2010-01-04T21:06:00.000-06:00

Back on December 17, we enjoyed seeing Will's preschool program, after watching Christopher's appearances the last two years. Will seemed to be singing through all of the songs while also looking around at all the other kids. We were so proud of him!

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Cb_HFHwU7w if the video won't play)

Gingerbread House

2010-01-04T21:05:00.000-06:00

I can't resist posting these photos of the gingerbread house the kids decorated. We had our cousin Caroline over to join in the fun. They all had a blast! All three of them were very careful and deliberate with how they wanted to decorate it. I think it turned out great!

Sarah Kate--7 months

2009-12-04T12:33:00.011-06:00

Sarah Kate has been busy lately! She is getting good at sitting on her own, and when she topples over, she can usually catch herself before she bops her head on the floor. (A very useful skill!) She can scoot backwards all over the room, and she is ready to go forward--she can push herself up on her hands and knees already! She is also babbling more, saying dada and baba. Here's a photo of her sitting and a video of the babbling: (I'm adding the url for the video underneath it, since some are having technical difficulties.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-B_qkVxPapA

Sarah Kate also has two new bottom teeth. She's enjoying all her baby foods along with those fruit and vegetable puffs that dissolve in her mouth. She will only eat them if you put them in her mouth for her. She can pick them up in her hands, but she makes no attempt to put them in her mouth. It's funny because everything else she picks up goes straight to her mouth, but not the little things she's supposed to be putting there! She will hold puffs in both hands, wave them around, and then open her mouth for you to feed her some. If you look closely at this photo, you might be able to spot her 1 1/2 teeth that were present at the time it was taken:

This month, Sarah Kate got to meet her Great-Aunt Marilyn and Great-Grandma Brewer. It was a special time! Great-Grandma had fun feeding Sarah Kate and hearing her laugh.

Here's a video of Sarah Kate's first time eating peas. She wasn't a fan!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwCBw-wsrGo

Thanksgiving

2009-12-04T12:32:00.011-06:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDwWxe78wWU

(I'm adding urls for the videos underneath them, since some are having technical difficulties.)

Thanksgiving was fun this year, even though illness kept us from
celebrating with Noel's family. Grandma and Grandpa were here,
and that helped make it special! Grandma and the boys made
headbands (Will called them handbands) and lists of what they
were thankful for. We ate a huge Thanksgiving feast--
Christopher was especially excited because we called it a feast--
and watched lots of football. I am thankful for a relaxing day with
our family!

We also got a new computer, and Noel and I have both had fun
playing with iMovie, as you can tell from this video, done by Noel,
and the peas video on Sarah Kate's 7 month post, done by me.
Christopher loves watching himself in thisvideo! Also, see below
the video for photos of our Thanksgiving celebration . . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQN_x9DCrAs

Questions and Prayers

2009-11-15T19:59:00.004-06:00

Christopher has been full of interesting and sometimes challenging questions lately. Here is a sampling of the questions he has asked in the last week or so:

Can God see Himself? (He decided "yes" since he learned from his catechism that nothing can be hidden from God.)

How does the tv read a disc if it doesn't have eyes or a brain?

Are you sure Mr. Tony can't hear you? (When I was yelling at Tony Romo on the tv.)

What do vitamins look like? (Not the pills, the actual vitamins.) How do the vitamins get into the oranges?

Also in the last couple of weeks, we've seen a change in Will's mealtime prayer habits. Recently, I talked with the boys about why we pray before meals. We talked about how everything we have comes from God, even our hot dogs and chips and milk. God gave Daddy the ability to do his job and make money. He gave us a place to live where there are grocery stores nearby where we can buy food. When we thank God for our food, we are acknowledging that our food and everything else we have comes from Him. Will seems to have taken that last part about "everything else" very seriously when it comes to prayer. He has changed from a rushed, "Dear God, thank you for this food, Amen" to a lengthy listing of everything he can think of (or everything he can see through squinted eyes). His lunchtime prayer yesterday went something like this:

Thank you, God, thank you for our food, and thank you for all the food that we have in this house, and thank you for our food that we eat for snack. And thank you for Mommy and Daddy and Christopher and me and Sarah Kate, and thank you for our drinks and for Sarah Kate's drinks, and for our cups and our sippy cups and our straw cups and the cups that Christopher uses. And thank you for our shoes and for our boots and our rain boots. And thank you for our clock, and thank you for the big clock that has numbers, and for the clock in the kitchen, and for ours, and for all the things that are made in this house. And thank you for Jesus, that He died on the cross for our sins, and for babies and for baby food, and thank you for Jesus, that He died on the cross for our sins, Amen.

Will the Smart Aleck

2009-11-11T20:23:00.003-06:00

A recent occurrence in the life of a friend reminded me that I haven't talked to the boys about what to do if they get separated from me in a store. So yesterday, I had a chat with Will and laid out the scenario for him . . . you are shopping with mommy, you look up and she's gone, you are all by yourself in the store--what do you do?

Without hesitation: "I would go outside of the store and spit on the store."

What makes this even funnier to me is that the day before, Will had been disciplined for spitting on Christopher. I think he figured if no one is around, I can go spit on the store and not get in trouble!

Tonight at dinner, we were talking about addition with Christopher. Christopher was quizzing us with some challenging addition facts. This is how it went:

Christopher: What is 200 plus 200?
Mom: I don't know.
Christopher: 300!
Dad: No . . .
Will: 400!!!
(So naturally, at this point we are thinking this kid is a genius.)
Dad: Will, what is 2 plus 2?
Will: 4.
Dad: What is 1 plus 1?
Will: 4.
And that was the end of that genius moment! :)

Halloween 2009

2009-11-01T21:41:00.005-06:00

Halloween was so fun this year . . . Christopher ran from every house screaming about what he got, and Will was only slightly nervous about the "big kids" in the scary costumes. :) After trick-or-treating with friends, the boys loved handing out candy to trick-or-treaters. Then they chowed down on some candy and slept in their costumes.

Pumpkins

2009-11-01T21:31:00.005-06:00

We carved pumpkins for the first time this year. (We meaning Noel. The one who is good with knives and all.) The boys had a blast picking them out at the pumpkin patch, and then Noel drew several sketches for them to choose from. Christopher wanted a scary monster, and Will wanted a goofy ghost. Christopher has asked everyone who has come to our house which pumpkin is scarier. Much to his dismay, a couple of people have said Will's ghost is the scariest!

Counting

2009-11-01T21:29:00.001-06:00

As reported by Grandpa:

Will says, "I'm going to count to 20. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 . . . (pause) . . . I'm going to count to 14."

Sarah Kate--6 months old

2009-11-01T21:22:00.004-06:00

I absolutely cannot believe my baby is 6 months old. (And yes, I am going to start all these posts this way.) We celebrated her 6 month birthday by going to get a flu shot. Sarah Kate was busy charming the nurse with her smile when the nurse had the audacity to stick her in the leg with a needle. SK got a concerned look on her face, whimpered for about a minute while I picked her up, and as soon as the nurse's face was in sight again, SK just started grinning at her. It was hilarious!

Sarah Kate is really enjoying her baby food these days. Sometimes she protests when the little plastic tub is empty! Other times she turns her head as far as she can to the side to let me know she is all done. (We're working on our sign language!) When baby food isn't available, she likes to chew on her own toes. (Just like her Aunt Amanda! I mean, when Aunt Amanda was a baby.)

And Sarah Kate is on the move! She can turn herself in a circle and also push herself backward by pushing up on her arms. I usually put her down on her playmat in the middle of the family room rug, but the other night, she managed to get herself to the hardwood floor and discovered she could really take off. I found her trying to pull up on the stone hearth and putting her mouth on it. (Note to self: time to order rubber cover thingies for the hearth.) Here's the picture: I had put her by the dog toy on her playmat, and look how far she went!

She is also making some progress with sitting up by herself. She can do it for a few seconds, but then something captures attention and she flops over to try and reach it. :) Her other new favorite activity is her exersaucer . . . check out that smile!

Christopher's Bedroom Signage

2009-10-19T16:48:00.005-05:00

Since Christopher and Will share a room, Christopher has his afternoon rest time in our room. He loves to play his Leapster, read and draw (mostly draw). Sometimes he writes me notes and leaves them on the living room floor. This afternoon, I found this (click on photos to make them bigger so you can read them better):

This was on the bedroom door:

These two were on one wall of our room:

This was on another wall:

And these two were next to each other above our bed:

That kid cracks me up!

Silly Willly

2009-10-12T16:21:00.002-05:00

As Will becomes more and more verbal, he also becomes more and more hilarious. He often has witty comebacks and comments, and his mischievous side knows just how to get Christopher upset. When Christopher is reading, Will is very skilled at jabbering on about nothing and peppering Christopher with mundane questions. They also had a conversation recently about how old Robin Hood is. Will was convinced that Robin Hood is 7 years old. Christopher condescendingly informed him that Robin Hood is a grown up. Will conceded: "I guess he's 7 and a half."

Will has such funny ways of saying things. His favorite restaurant is "Miss Callister's" and today he told me that his lips felt "spicy" (chapped). He doesn't have much sense of time, so every time-related question is about if it is happening until Christmas or not. "Christopher, when is it going to be my turn for the toy? Are you going to keep it until Christmas?" Lately his favorite excuse is that he is getting a "little bit sick": "Mom, if I clean up any more toys it is going to make me a little bit sick."

For a few weeks now, Will has been a cat quite a bit. He literally starts meowing as he opens his eyes in the morning. And he refers to himself as "this cat" and builds himself a cat house of pillows and blankets on the sofa. It is definitely an entertaining phase!

Sarah Kate--5 months old

2009-10-12T13:49:00.007-05:00

Technically, Sarah Kate is closer to 6 months at this point than 5 months, but let's turn back the clock and pretend . . . Sarah Kate is so much fun at 5 months! She still loves to smile, laugh and coo. She also says fun words like "glaaahh!" She loves to lay on her back and play with her feet. She loves having a bath. She is starting to notice when I leave the room and often protests. She loves playing with her new baby doll and other toys in her crib when she wakes up from her nap.

We recently started a new adventure--rice cereal. The boys were so excited, and Christopher can't wait for her to really get the hang of it so he can feed her. She did great the first night, finishing the whole bowl. But most of it has ended up on her bib since then. We're not giving up . . . if she only knew that once she masters this, she gets to move on to sweet potatoes, I think she'd be a little more motivated!

And just because she looked so cute last Sunday in her dress and her boots . . .

Sarah Kate's Baptism

2009-09-30T17:05:00.008-05:00

On September 20, we had the privilege of baptizing Sarah Kate. We were so happy to have all four grandparents there, along with Aunt Laura, Uncle Garland, Aunt Amanda and Uncle Brian. As we stood with the kids for the baptism, the boys did a good job of following my strict instructions not to goof off and to listen to Pastor Chris. Christopher did some gentle prodding of Will to keep his head turned the way Christopher thought it should be, and they even held hands for part of the time. (I was one relieved mama!) And Sarah Kate did a great job of not screaming when water was dumped on her head, although she did burp at one point, just like Will did during his baptism. Following the baptism, my Dad sang "In Christ Alone," accompanied by Mom on the piano.

Sarah Kate looked beautiful wearing a very special dress . . . the dress that my Mom made for me when I was baptized. Here's a picture of me, 10 months old, in my baptism dress:

It is our prayer that Sarah Kate will fulfill the vows we made as her parents by placing her faith in Christ as her Lord and Savior. We do not believe that baptism saves her--it is an expression of her place in the covenant family as a child of believers, her need for the cleansing blood of Christ, and our intention to teach her about Christ and God's Word. We are so thankful to have a wonderful church family to support us in this endeavor!

Here are some photos from her special day:

With Pastor Chris:

Amanda and Brian's Visit

2009-09-30T16:59:00.005-05:00

We were so excited to have Aunt Amanda and Uncle Brian here a couple of weeks ago for a visit. It was Sarah Kate's first time to meet Uncle Brian. We packed the weekend with two exciting events: Sarah Kate's baptism and a baby shower for Amanda. It was crazy, but it was fun! After the busy weekend we got to just relax for a couple of days with Aunt Amanda and admire her adorable pregnant tummy with our much-anticipated cousin Asher inside! Here are some photos of their visit and Amanda's baby shower . . . baptism photos to follow in a separate post.

County Fair and our little Razorbacks

2009-09-30T15:36:00.007-05:00

In early September, we took the kids to the county fair. Against our better judgment, we went to ride the carnival rides. Christopher said he wanted to ride the ferris wheel, but when we got to it, he looked up at how high it was and decided against it. So he rode a very boring train, Will rode a kiddie ride, and then Noel and Christopher did bumper cars. There also might have been an incident with Will and me on the carousel, but we'd rather not talk about it.

The next day, I took the kids back to meet Nana, Granddad and Caroline and see the animals. The boys loved seeing the turkeys, rabbits, sheep, goats, pigs and cows. The highlight was when Christopher got to milk a goat! He thought it would be a good idea to get a goat for our backyard and then we would have plenty of milk. The boys are still asking when we are going to the fair again--they had a wonderful time!

Finally, here are some photos from the start of football season . . . our sweet little Razorbacks, and Sarah Kate watching her first Razorback game with Grandpa:

Will's first day of preschool

2009-09-30T15:24:00.003-05:00

I am so far behind on keeping you all posted on significant and not-so-significant events going on in our lives. So this will be the first of a few posts about September. Back in the beginning of the month, Will started preschool at mine and Christopher's preschool alma mater. He loves his teacher, Miss Lindsay, and loves going to school! His favorite parts of school are the hamster in their room and playing outside. He also likes when they do "tootie talk" but I have not made any progress on figuring out what in the world that is.

Here's Will on his first day of school:

Sarah Kate--4 months old

2009-09-08T18:36:00.007-05:00

At 4 months old, Sarah Kate is really adding to her list of tricks! She can roll over both ways and hold up her head to look all around when on her tummy. She is getting good at using her hands to grab and hold toys. Unfortunately, she also likes to grab her bow and pull her headband down around her eyes or her mouth, so no more bows for now!

She is still very social and smiles all the time. She also laughs and coos a lot. She is so much fun to have around! My favorite moment every morning is when I wake her up (yes, I have to wake her up!) and put her on the changing table. She sleepily opens her eyes, sees my face, and breaks into a huge grin! It makes my day every time.

At her 4 month check-up, she weighed 12 pounds, 10 ounces (25th percentile) and was over 25 inches long (75th percentile). She's another long, skinny Henley baby!

Here's her newest rolling over trick:

And her nightly giggle-fest with Mommy--if you laugh at her, she'll laugh back!

The face of summer

2009-08-27T12:38:00.001-05:00

It doesn't get much better than this!

First Day of Kindergarten

2009-08-26T20:41:00.005-05:00

Yesterday was Christopher's first day of kindergarten. He has been anticipating this day since February 19--the day after he turned five, because he thought that meant he would be going to kindergarten immediately. He doesn't usually wake up until about 7:30 in the mornings, but yesterday when I quietly opened the door at 6:45, he shot straight up in bed with a HUGE smile on his face. You would have thought it was his birthday or Christmas!

After getting dressed in his uniform (which he declared his love for--we'll see how long that lasts!) and eating breakfast, we had a time of prayer with him and took some photos.

Then it was off to school! Of course, we were early and had to wait in the hallway for awhile with all the other eager beavers.

Finally, Mrs. Moore called for her class and his moment had arrived! We went to his classroom, put his stuff away, grabbed a quick photo with Mrs. Moore, and then he took his seat. He looked so big sitting there in a real kindergarten classroom. It just about broke my heart to leave, but I did--after one trip back to take two more photos from the doorway and wave one last time. I managed to leave with dry eyes (mostly) but boo-hooed later when I looked at the photos I had taken that morning.

Will also had a tough time adjusting to Christopher's new school life. That morning when we were on our way to a friend's house, Will yelled from the backseat, "Look, Christopher, horses!" and then glumly looked over at the empty booster seat next to him. Will was so eager as we waited in the pick-up line that afternoon and asked a million times when Christopher was going to get in our van. When Christopher finally arrived, Will said, "Christopher, I missed you while you were with Mrs. Moore!" At that moment, I was SO thankful that Christopher will be going to school 2 days a week and at home with us the other days. Their friendship is so precious.

Christopher's first day of school was definitely a success. He loved art and Latin, and he spent the rest of the afternoon and evening reminding us that he can say "wet" and "dry" in Latin. He was intrigued by the concept of taking a hall pass to the bathroom, a big change from the designated potty break times of preschool years. In fact, Christopher did not use the potty all day. That would be 10 hours by the time I realized that he had not used the potty at school and made him go! I think he didn't want to miss anything, but I have given him strict instructions to use the potty at some point tomorrow!

Family Photos

2009-08-25T14:09:00.006-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, we had some family photos taken by Miranda Campbell. Enjoy!

Great Wolf Lodge

2009-08-19T21:46:00.007-05:00

Last week was our summer vacation as a family to Great Wolf Lodge in Kansas City. It was a fabulous trip, mostly due to the fact that Grandma and Grandpa came with us. (Because we all know that if the kids outnumber the adults, it is NOT a vacation.) Great Wolf Lodge is a great kid-oriented hotel with an indoor/outdoor waterpark just for hotel guests. It was perfect for us! There is also an outlet mall right next to it and lots of fun restaurants.

Here's a day-by-day breakdown of the festivities, not because you care, but because I'll need this to look back on when I scrapbook this seven years from now. (If all you want are photos, scroll down now.)

Day One: Arrived at Great Wolf Lodge. The boys went crazy over our room and the little room-within-the-room that looked like a tent and had bunk beds just for them. We sounded like a Great Wolf Lodge commercial when Christopher exclaimed, "Great Wolf Lodge is a GREAT place!" And that was even before we'd seen the waterpark, which is where we headed next. It had 3 huge water slides that you ride on an inner tube and two that Christopher rode by himself, just sliding down. There were multiple pools with various features and plenty of places to play! Christopher loved riding all the slides (although he didn't ride the scariest one until the last day), and Will enjoyed splashing around in the pools and fountains. Christopher was so excited that when Noel and I went to bed at 10:45 p.m., Christopher was still wide awake, watching the clock and waiting for morning. We have no idea when he went to sleep that night!

Day Two: After breakfast on the patio outside our room (Fruit Loops!), we headed back to the waterpark. A couple of hours later, we dragged Christopher away from the water slides for lunch at the nearby T-Rex Cafe. This place was incredible. You felt like you were eating among the dinosaurs, complete with sound effects and a "meteor shower" every 30 minutes. There was a huge aquarium right behind our booth, complete with sharks. After lunch and decorating dinosaur-shaped rice krispie treats for dessert, the boys went to play in the Paleozone, uncovering dinosaur fossils and learning more about dinosaurs. Just walking around the two-story restaurant seeing all the dinosaurs was a lot of fun! Later that day, the boys went to get ice cream with Grandpa and went to the lobby for evening story time while Noel and I went out on a date. Christopher said the highlight was meeting Wiley the Wolf after story time.

Day Three: Noel and Grandpa took the boys to Cabela's to look at everything an outdoorsman could ever need. Then we ate lunch at Ted's Montana Grill (love that place!) and went back to the water park. We hit the outdoor part of the water park for the first time, and Will fell in love with the little frog slide. We went back to story time that evening and Christopher was excited to see Wiley again!

Day Four: Noel and Grandpa took the boys to play mini-golf for their first time. Will's strategy was, "I'll just move the ball closer to the hole." Then we visited the water park one final time, and Christopher discovered that he loved the Howling Wolf--the scary slide that is completely dark for most of the slide. Will enjoyed floating on Mommy and Daddy's laps on the lazy river, and Christopher enjoyed pushing me through the waterfall on the lazy river, over and over again. Then it was lunch at Culver's and time to head home. The boys can't wait to go back to Great Wolf Lodge! We highly recommend it!

The boys peeking out of their "Kid Camp"

Indoor water park

Christopher at the end of one of the water slides

Noel and Will on the lazy river

Will loved to climb on this snake

Noel and Christopher shooting out of the water slide

Will and his beloved frog slide

The boys in front of T-Rex Cafe

Eating at T-Rex Cafe

Christopher decorating his dinosaur dessert while Grandpa discusses which part he's going to eat

Digging for fossils in the Paleozone

Christopher and Triceratops

The boys in the lobby, waiting for story time

Christopher and Wiley the Wolf (Will watched from afar)

Playing mini-golf

A couple of videos

2009-08-18T16:50:00.005-05:00

First of all, I finally captured Sarah Kate rolling over on video. She starts out on her tummy, then holds her head up high in the air. Then she leans her head to the side, her body follows, and she flips over. Usually she has a pretty shocked look on her face, but I think she's gotten used to it. And I'm 95% sure that today she rolled over from her back to her tummy. The poor third child, I can't remember for sure, but I think I put her on her back to play but found her on her tummy after helping Will with something. Here's the tummy to back roll:

A few weeks ago, Christopher's Sunday school teacher gave him a CD with the books of the Old Testament and New Testament set to music. The kids LOVE it and often request that we keep it on repeat in the car, over and over and over again. Here's the result:

(The New Testament is still a little shaky.)

And just look at my big girl holding up her head! She loves to play on her tummy and watch the rest of us wherever we go in the room. For some reason, this pose always looks like they are getting so old. Stop, time, stop. My baby's growing too fast!